Chapter 330: Mother-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law Relations
Princess Huiyun had previously only taken a rough look at her son’s residence.
This time, she had been muddled into coming over by her granddaughter.
There was an Earthquake, so she couldn’t run back and forth.
It seemed like she would be spending the night.
In truth, Princess Huiyun felt a bit uneasy.
She didn’t spend much time at her Princess Mansion.
She stayed more often at Taia Temple.
Coming to her son’s home so abruptly—and with his home being so small and cramped—she felt awkward just thinking about where she would stay.
Most importantly, even though she had acknowledged her biological son, they hadn’t really spent much time together.
She felt she hadn’t been of any help.
She hadn’t provided him with any power or status.
Things were just as they were.
Her eldest grandson and granddaughter’s husband had turned right around and left for the military campaign.
There was no special treatment at all.
Princess Huiyun had actually been feeling quite frustrated lately.
She felt like she was a failure.
She had lived her whole life in a daze.
Very muddled.
Back at Jiang Mansion, she hadn’t expected that a bedroom would have been prepared for her.
Princess Huiyun looked at the spacious room; the layout was surprisingly similar to her bedroom at Taia Temple.
There was a large bed, not a canopy bed, but a raised platform style that felt warm to the touch.
Mianmian said, “This is different from the one you use to boil water, Mother-in-law. This is a kang. You can light a fire inside and roast sweet potatoes. We don’t have enough manpower or materials to boil water, but with the kang, when we cook or boil water, this area gets warm from the residual heat. You won’t get roasted yourself.”
The kang was first covered with a thick straw mat, and over that was a mattress with a natural linen-colored cover.
The kang was large enough for several people to roll around on.
If not sleeping, one could place a small table on it and sit there to eat.
It also looked very nice with a vase of flowers.
There was a bookshelf in the room filled with many books.
Then, on the wall, there were whips, knives, and swords.
Besides the kang, there was a solid wood sofa.
In short, it was designed like the most expensive suites in Jingzhou.
It was a suite, with a bedroom, a living room, and a washroom.
Very complete.
Upon entering, there were slippers, bathrobes, and various soaps.
It gathered everything Mianmian had created over these years for a comfortable life.
The focus was on convenience and comfort.
It wasn’t actually luxurious.
Limited by her vision and social background.
But it did have the advantages of her era.
Princess Huiyun felt that everything was perfectly appropriate and thoughtful, even new clothes, robes, and shoes had been prepared for her.
She had originally felt there was a barrier, but now her eyes suddenly turned red.
Family was family; it was just different.
Even though she had never done a single thing for him, he still kept her in mind, giving her things that might not be the most expensive, but were the most comfortable.
Everything was appropriate, everything was thoughtful.
Just like how she liked to go barefoot; carpets were laid out on the floor.
It hadn’t been long, and her son and daughter-in-law hadn’t said anything, yet all of this had been prepared.
There were even cups specifically for her to drink tea, tooth-brushing items, face towels, and the like, all embroidered with cloud patterns.
It was clearly prepared specifically for her.
The wash area was also excellent, even better than her own residence.
A clear mirror, a pristine chamber pot, and a huge bathtub.
There was even a bag of dried flowers to sprinkle in when bathing.
In the room was a pot of chrysanthemums, golden and blooming vigorously, full of vitality.
Princess Huiyun looked at it all; there wasn’t a single thing she was dissatisfied with.
She was very happy.
Mianmian chattered away on the side, “This was prepared by Mother, this was prepared by Father…”
Princess Huiyun was moved beyond words by what she said.
Cong Geer looked at the room and originally wanted to say his room was like this too, but seeing that his Great-Aunt looked very happy, he decided to forget it and keep his mouth shut, which was also a display of high emotional intelligence.
However, Aunt Qin was truly a very attentive and considerate person.
His clothes were of good size and fabric, and they were exactly what he liked.
In fact, when it came to food, clothing, housing, and transportation, eating well, dressing comfortably, living spaciously and at ease, and traveling without difficulty was basically everything.
These were the things that made up basic life.
But being able to satisfy these things properly was not easy.
Qin Luoxia picked up her husband and returned home, but he was still asleep when they arrived.
Qin Luoxia thought there was no one home.
She couldn’t bear to wake her husband up.
She simply carried her husband out of the carriage.
Then she saw a massive crowd: the Princess, the Princess’s attendants, her daughter, and Cong Geer.
She paused in embarrassment.
Jiang Changtian woke up too.
He got down from Xia Mei’s arms.
The Princess’s face turned bright red.
Hearing that her son and daughter-in-law had returned, she had run out excitedly.
And then she saw this scene.
She never expected that her serious and proper son would interact with his wife like this in private.
Actually clinging to his wife’s arms to get out of the carriage.
If it were the other way around, a normal Mother-in-law would probably scold the daughter-in-law as a vixen or something; being carried out of a carriage in public, was that appropriate?
But the one being carried out of the carriage was her own son…
This, hiss!
She was blinded by their display of affection.
A bit awkward.
At the same time, she felt it was fortunate that her daughter-in-law was in good health, as her own son was too delicate.
“Mother, you’re here. Xia Mei was worried about me and came to pick me up from work. I was a bit tired, so I fell asleep,” Jiang Changtian said weakly.
Princess Huiyun’s heart ached immediately.
She couldn’t bother thinking about anything else.
She just felt her son’s body was too weak.
Fortunately, her daughter-in-law was in good health.
Thanks to her daughter-in-law’s good physique.
Her son had actually fallen asleep from exhaustion after returning from the government office.
She remembered that her Imperial Father and Imperial Brother used to review memorials every day, sleeping for only a little over two hours a day, and they never seemed tired.
It must be that his health foundation had been ruined by that vicious woman.
Heartache +100.
Princess Huiyun felt that she should go into the palace later and complain to her Imperial Brother again.
Her son’s body was too weak; even if her Imperial Brother valued Jiang Changtian, he should take it easy, give more rewards, and let him do less work.
Qin Luoxia was also a little shy.
However, she was someone who had honed her skills chatting with the aunts and uncles in the village—she couldn’t be timid. On the surface, she couldn’t be timid. No matter what she did, even if she lost the person, she wouldn’t lose her composure; she had to keep her head held high.
She kept a straight face.
She followed the Princess and bowed, saying, “Mother, there was an Earthquake, and I was worried about my husband, so I went to pick him up. As for Mianmian and Cong Geer, I thought that with you taking care of them, I could rest easy.”
Princess Huiyun was very moved by her daughter-in-law’s trust.
She would definitely take good care of the children.
She looked at her tall and sturdy daughter-in-law now, and the more she looked, the more satisfied she was.
She couldn’t help but criticize herself inwardly.
When she was a young girl, she used to think that the elders who liked to pick tall and sturdy daughters-in-law for good childbearing were too old-fashioned. If she were an elder, she would pick someone beautiful and pleasing to the eye.
As it turned out, when she really became a Mother-in-law, she was slapped in the face.
Seeing her daughter-in-law tall and strong made her feel extremely at ease… Of course, that wasn’t to say her daughter-in-law wasn’t pretty; it was just that Princess Huiyun had seen many beauties, and her daughter-in-law didn’t belong to that typical category of beauties.
Because when her daughter-in-law stood with her son, her features were not as delicate as her son’s.
But she thought, fortunately, her daughter-in-law wasn’t a sickly beauty; her son already felt like a sickly beauty. If two sickly beauties sat opposite each other and cried together whenever something happened, they could cry for half a lifetime… They couldn’t cry for a whole lifetime; beauties who loved to cry were mostly short-lived.
Princess Huiyun looked at her daughter-in-law, then at her granddaughter, and was extremely satisfied.
Although the granddaughter’s face was more like the son’s, her personality was like the daughter-in-law’s—generous and bold. Good.
Dinner time arrived.
Princess Huiyun was surprised again.
They had already moved to the capital, and even if her son hadn’t acknowledged her, he was already a fourth-rank official, yet her daughter-in-law was still willing to cook in person.
Just because her son liked to eat noodles.
Seeing the steaming hot noodle soup brought up.
Before Princess Huiyun even ate, she felt both moved and sad.
Sad because they had truly come up through hardship and still had to cook for themselves.
Moved because they supported each other, and their feelings remained unchanged.
She envied this sincerity and was also happy that her son could find such a wife.
How fortunate.
Dinner was very simple.
Too simple.
But Princess Huiyun didn’t feel slighted at all.
When she ate by herself every day, there were many dishes, a table full, but there was never this warmth.
So this was what it was like for a family to eat together.
She had never experienced this from childhood to old age.
After all, she was a Princess when she was young, and a Princess when she grew up; there were too many rules.
But a family sitting around a round table, eating and chatting, having hot noodle soup, some pickles, some green vegetables, and braised meat.
And Cong Geer ate very naturally, not restrained at all.
To see if a person is living well, you just have to see if they are comfortable. If they can be very comfortable, it means they have made this their home, and it means they are living quite well.
Strangely enough, perhaps it was because he had stayed at Mianmian’s house when he was young, the memory was very vivid.
Whenever he looked back on food later, the most delicious food was actually at Mianmian’s house.
So now that he was living here, he felt he ate quite well every meal, and he seemed to have gained a little bit of weight.
He was originally so thin he seemed like he would float away; recently, he felt he had a little bit of meat on him.
His health seemed better too, mainly because Mianmian was too lively; whenever she had free time, she would drag him to run and jump every day.
The noodles had the fragrance of noodles, and the vegetables had the fragrance of vegetables.
Princess Huiyun noticed that Changtian didn’t seem to be picking up any meat.
Princess Huiyun couldn’t help but pick up a piece of braised meat for her son.
Jiang Changtian didn’t eat it.
Mianmian picked it away.
Princess Huiyun felt a bit sad and embarrassed; did her son still hold a grudge against her? He wouldn’t even eat the food she picked for him.
After the meal.
During dessert after the meal, Jiang Changtian finally spoke to Princess Huiyun, “When I was young, I was always sick. Every time I was sick, Old Madam Jiang wouldn’t let me eat. Sometimes I was starved for days; only when I was famished would she let me eat, and she would always give me greasy meat. I would vomit every time I finished eating, so later on, I would feel nauseous whenever I ate meat. I still can’t eat meat now. Please forgive me, Mother. I am very happy that you picked food for me.”
This ordinary sentence made Princess Huiyun burst into tears.
“Xia Mei was worried that I wouldn’t be healthy if I didn’t eat meat. After our conditions improved, she would boil meat into soup and cook vegetables for me to eat. My health is much better now. In the past, every year when the weather got cold, I would cough incessantly. Xia Mei heard that snake gall could stop coughing and moisten the lungs, so she went into the deep mountains alone to catch snakes for me to eat the snake gall. I haven’t really coughed much in these few years. Mother, although I was very unfortunate in the past not to find you, I am also very lucky to have met Xia Mei.”
Princess Huiyun nodded continuously.
“Yes, lucky. Mother is also lucky.”
For a moment, she looked at her daughter-in-law; the more she looked, the better she seemed, her eyes filled with maternal love.
Qin Luoxia had always been a little insecure; after all, her husband was originally as beautiful as an immortal, and now he had suddenly transformed into the son of a Princess.
She was also very nervous about her Princess Mother-in-law, worrying that she wouldn’t serve her well.
But after her husband’s explanation, she saw her Princess Mother-in-law looking at her with the dependence of a fairy who didn’t eat human food, and she couldn’t help but shiver.
She felt that the Princess Mother-in-law didn’t seem very smart; she had been fooled into a limp.
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